ES2928855T3 - Control of energy consumption of wind turbine - Google Patents

Abstract

A power management module and a method for controlling the power consumption of consumers in a wind turbine system. Each power management module in the wind turbine system is configured to determine a voltage level of a power supply bus of the wind turbine system and then control a power consumption level of one or more consumers coupled to the power bus. power supply based at least in part on the determined voltage level of the power bus. In this way, power consumption can be managed across the entire wind turbine system, without the need for a dedicated centralized controller and communications infrastructure. (Automatic translation with Google Translate, without legal value)

Description

DESCRIPTION

Control of energy consumption of wind turbine

field of invention

The present invention relates to a power management module for a wind turbine system and to a method for controlling power consumption in a wind turbine system.

Background of the invention

Wind turbine systems include a number of different consumers in different parts of the wind turbine, for example, in the tower, nacelle, hub, etc. Consumers are devices, components or systems within the wind turbine system that consume electrical energy. Some examples of typical consumers are yaw systems, cooling systems, lubrication systems, blade pitch systems, control systems, service lighting, service lifts, etc.

In grid-connected wind turbines, consumers can draw power from the grid in order to operate. However, sometimes grid power can be lost, for example as a result of damaged grid connection, or a grid power outage, etc. Even during off-grid periods, some consumers may still need to be powered. Consequently, grid-connected wind turbines can have a backup power system, such as batteries, so power can still be supplied to consumers who need it during periods without the grid.

However, batteries have a finite amount of power and periods without grid can potentially last a long period of time (for example, if the wind turbine is an offshore wind turbine, a period without grid can be caused by damage to a cable submarine, which could take many months to repair). It can be difficult to increase battery capacity due to limited space available for batteries and the increased costs this would incur. Consequently, to prolong the amount of time that a backup system can power consumers that need to be powered during off-grid periods, it may be desirable to minimize the power consumption of wind turbine systems during off-grid periods.

Document US 2017/145989 A1 (RITTER ALLEN MICHAEL [US] ET AL) May 25, 2017 (05-25-2017) deals with the control of the energy consumption of the auxiliary loads of the wind turbine. This check is performed in the event of a network event. As soon as the grid event is detected, the loads are disconnected from the grid and an uninterruptible power supply takes over the supply of some essential loads. Document US 6476519 B1 (WEINER DAVID A [US]) 5 Nov 2002 (05-11-2002) describes that battery voltage drops when discharged and that non-critical loads can be switched off when a certain degree is reached download.

Compendium of the invention

A first aspect of the invention provides a power management module according to claim 1.

The power management module that can control the power consumption level of the one or more consumers is based, at least in part, on a comparison of the power supply bus voltage level against a first threshold voltage.

Control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers may be based, at least in part, on a comparison of the power supply bus voltage level against a first threshold voltage.

At least one of the one or more consumers may be a non-essential consumer, in which case, if the power supply bus voltage level is greater than the first threshold voltage, the power management module may be configured to control the energy consumption level of the non-essential consumer at a first energy level; and if the voltage level of the power supply bus is less than the first threshold voltage, the power management module can be configured to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer at a second power level, where the first energy level is greater than the second energy level.

Control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers may further be based, at least in part, on a comparison of the power supply bus voltage level against a second threshold voltage, wherein the first threshold voltage is greater than the second threshold voltage level.

The power management module can be further configured to control the power consumption level of the one or more consumers between a first power level and a second power level, wherein the first power level is higher than the second power level. Energy. For example, the first power level can be a non-zero power consumption level and the second power level can be a zero power consumption level, or a non-zero power consumption level that is less than the amount of energy consumption at the first energy level.

At least one of the one or more consumers may be a non-essential consumer of low importance, in which case, if the voltage level of the power supply bus is less than the first threshold voltage, the power management module may be configured to control the power consumption level of low-importance non-essential consumer to the second power level, and if the power supply bus voltage level is higher than the second threshold voltage, the power management module can be set to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer of low importance to the first power level.

At least one of the one or more consumers may be a non-essential consumer of high importance, in which case, if the voltage level of the power supply bus is less than the second threshold voltage, the power management module may be configured to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer of high importance to the second power level, and if the power supply bus voltage level is higher than the second threshold voltage, the power management module can be set to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer of high importance to the first power level.

The one or more consumers may be coupled to the power supply bus by one or more respective controllable switches, wherein the power management module is configured to control the one or more controllable switches to control the power consumption level of the one or more consumers. For example, the power management module can be configured to control the one or more controllable switches between two states: a closed state, to couple the one or more consumers to the power supply bus, and an open state, to decouple the power supply bus. one or more consumers of the power supply bus.

The power management module can be further configured to: determine a voltage level and/or a current at an input of each of the one or more consumers; wherein the control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers is further based, at least in part, on the level of voltage and/or current determined at the input of each of the one or more consumers. Each of the one or more controllable switches may comprise a transistor, in which case the power management module may further be configured to, when controlling a transistor for coupling a consumer to the power supply bus, control a conduction level of the transistor based on the level of voltage and/or current determined at the input of the consumer to protect against inrush current to the consumer.

The power management module can furthermore be configured so that, when controlling the switches of a plurality of consumers to couple the plurality of consumers to the power supply bus, time-stage the coupling of at least some of the consumers to provide overload protection for the power supply bus.

A second aspect of the invention provides a wind turbine system according to claim 12.

The backup power source can be further configured to provide either the second power supply voltage or a third power supply voltage to the power supply bus, wherein the second power supply voltage is greater than the third power supply voltage.

The backup power source may comprise a battery, in which case the wind turbine system can be further configured to control the backup power source to provide either the second power supply voltage or the third power supply voltage to the power supply bus based, at least in part, on the remaining power stored in the battery.

A third aspect of the invention provides a method according to claim 15.

Brief description of the drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, but by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows an example schematic drawing of a wind turbine 1;

Figure 2 shows an example schematic diagram of a wind turbine system 100 according to a first aspect of the present disclosure;

Figure 3 shows a representation of an example control process performed by a power management module 110 of the wind turbine system of Figure 2;

Figure 4 shows an example schematic diagram of a wind turbine system 400 according to a second aspect of the present disclosure;

Figure 5 shows a representation of an example control process performed by a power management module 110 of the wind turbine system of Figure 4;

Figure 6 shows an example representation of the different threshold voltages used by power management module 110; Y

Figure 7 shows an example schematic diagram of additional details of the power management module 110 of Figures 2 or 4.

Description of embodiments

This description provides an energy management module configured to help manage the energy consumption of consumers in a wind turbine system. The inventors have realized that in wind turbine power systems, when a backup power supply is used to provide power to a power supply bus (from which consumers can draw power), the voltage level at the bus is typically lower than when the primary power source (for example, a mains supply) is providing power to the power supply bus. Therefore, the inventors have developed a power management module that controls the power consumption level of one or more consumers based, at least in part, on the voltage level on the power supply bus. By determining the voltage level on the power supply bus, the power management module can determine whether the primary or backup power supply is providing power to the power supply bus. If the backup power supply is detected to be providing power, the power management module reduces the power consumption of any non-essential consumers under its control (for example, by disconnecting those consumers from the power supply bus) and maintains power for essential consumers (eg control systems, yaw systems, etc.). Similarly, if it is later detected that the primary power source is now providing power to the power supply bus, the power management module can increase the power consumption of any non-essential consumers under its control (for example by reconnecting those consumers to the power supply bus), thereby allowing those consumers to fully operate once more. In this way, the power consumption of the wind turbine system as a whole can be reduced during off-grid periods, thereby prolonging the time during which the wind turbine system can operate during a off-grid period, while maintaining essential functionality. of the wind turbine system.

In addition, power supply buses are a standard feature of wind turbine systems to power consumers located throughout a wind turbine (eg on the tower, nacelle, hub, etc.). Using the power supply bus to determine the current state of the power source, control of consumer power consumption can be distributed across a number of different power management modules, each placed in different parts of the wind turbine, without require a central control system or complex communications infrastructure. This can be particularly beneficial for the control of consumers located in regions such as the nacelle and hub, where the communications infrastructure between a central controller in one part of the wind turbine system and consumers in another part of the wind turbine system would require a swivel-type communications interface, which can be expensive and difficult to achieve with limited space resources.

Figure 1 illustrates, in a schematic perspective view, an example of a wind turbine 1. Wind turbine 1 includes a tower 2, a nacelle 3 arranged at the apex of the tower and a rotor 4 operatively coupled to a generator housed within the tower. nacelle 3. In addition to the generator, the nacelle houses various consumers required to convert wind energy into electrical energy and various consumers necessary to operate, control and optimize the performance of the wind turbine 1. The rotor 4 of the wind turbine 1 includes a central hub 5 and a plurality of blades 6 projecting outwardly from the central hub 5. In the illustrated embodiment, the rotor 4 includes three blades 6, but the number may vary.

Wind turbine 1 may be included among a collection of other wind turbines belonging to a wind power plant, also referred to as a wind farm or wind farm, which serves as a power generation plant connected by transmission lines to a grid. of electric power. The electric power grid generally consists of a network of power plants, transmission circuits, and substations coupled by a network of transmission lines that transmit power to loads in the form of end users and other customers of electric utility companies. The wind power plant may comprise a power plant controller which may be in charge of controlling certain aspects of the individual wind turbines.

Figure 2 shows an example schematic diagram of a wind turbine system 100 according to a first aspect of the present disclosure. As can be seen, the components of the wind turbine system 100 are distributed between the tower 2, the nacelle 3 and the hub 5 of the wind turbine 1. In the tower 2, there is a primary power source 150 comprising a network interface 152 and a converter 154, and a backup power source 160 comprising a battery 162 and converter 164. The primary power source 150 and the backup power source are coupled to a power supply bus 180 and are configured to provide power to the power supply bus 180. A power supply controller 170 is configured to engage and disengage backup power source 160 using switch 166, for example, to engage backup power source 160 to provide power to the bus power supply bus 180 during periods without grid and disengage the backup power source 160 to stop providing power to the power supply bus 180 during the s periods powered by the grid. The power supply controller 170 can detect periods without mains by any suitable means, which is not the subject of the present description. Additionally, in an alternative, power supply controller 170 may engage and disengage backup power source 160 in any other suitable manner, for example, by controlling converter 164. In a further alternative, power supply controller 170 may not be required - instead, the backup power source 160 can autonomously engage and disengage as needed.

Converters 154 and 164 may be of any suitable type to meet the needs of power supply bus 180. For example, if the power supply bus is a DC bus, converter 154 may be an AC-DC rectifier. configured to supply DC power to power supply bus 180 at a first power supply voltage, and converter 164 may be a DC-DC converter configured to supply DC power to power supply bus 180 at one second power supply voltage. By way of non-limiting example, battery 162 can supply 24 V DC power to converter 164, which can convert it to 400 V DC power to provide power supply bus 180, in order to reduce transmission losses in the power supply bus 180. The first power supply voltage provided by the primary power source 150 is greater than the second power supply voltage provided by the backup power source 160. By way of non-limiting example, the first power supply voltage may be 560 V DC and the second power supply voltage may be 400 V DC. In tower 2, the wind turbine system 100 further comprises a first converter 142 coupled to the power supply bus 180 through a first controllable switch 132. A power management module 1101 is coupled to the first controllable switch 132 in order to of controlling the state of the first controllable switch 132 (eg, open or closed). The first converter 142 is configured to supply power to the tower control module 122, which is an example of a consumer 120. The converter 142 can be of any suitable type to provide the required type of power to the tower control module 122. For example, if tower control module 122 requires 24 V DC power, converter 122 may be a DC-DC converter configured to provide 24 V DC to tower control module 122. If tower control module 122 requires 16 V AC power, converter 122 can be a DC-AC inverter configured to provide 16 V AC to tower control module 122, etc.

The power management module 1101 is configured to determine the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 and control the power consumption level of the tower control module 122 by controlling the state of the first controllable switch 132. These will be described later. Further details of this operation of the power management module 1101 and the other power management modules in the wind turbine system 100 (all of which are generally referred to as power management modules 110), with reference to the Figure 3.

In nacelle 3, wind turbine system 100 further comprises a second converter 144 coupled to power supply bus 180 through a second controllable switch 134, a third converter 146 coupled to power supply bus 180 through a third controllable switch 136 and a fourth converter 148 coupled to power supply bus 180 via a fourth controllable switch 138. A power management module 1102 is coupled to each of the switches 134, 136, 138 to control their states. The states of each of the switches 134, 136, 138 can be controlled independently, or they can all be controlled to be in the same state as each other. Second converter 144 is configured to supply power to yaw motor 124, third converter 146 is configured to supply power to other nacelle motors 126, and fourth converter 148 is configured to supply power to nacelle control module 128. The motor yaw converter 124, other nacelle motors 126, and nacelle control module 128 are all examples of consumers 120. Converters 144, 146, 148 may be of any suitable type (for example, DC-DC, DC-AC, frequency variable, etc.), as described above in connection with the first converter 142.

The power management module 1102 is configured to determine the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 and control the level of power consumption of the yaw motor 124, other nacelle motors 126, and the nacelle control module 128 controlling the states of the controllable switches 134, 136 and 138.

At hub 5, the wind turbine system 100 further comprises a fifth converter 149 coupled to the power supply bus 180 through a fifth controllable switch 139. A power management module 1103 is coupled to the fifth controllable switch 139 in order to of controlling the state of the fifth controllable switch 139 (eg, open or closed). The fifth converter 149 is configured to supply power to the hub control module 129, which is an example of a consumer 120. The fifth converter 149 can be of any suitable type to provide the required type of power to the hub control module 149. , as described above in connection with the first converter 142.

The power management module 1103 is configured to determine the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 and control the power consumption level of the hub control module 129 by controlling the state of the fifth controllable switch 139.

As can be seen, the power supply bus 180 runs the entire length of the wind turbine system 100 to provide power to consumers 120 in all parts of the wind turbine.

Each of the controllable switches 132, 134, 136, 138, and 139 can be implemented using any suitable controllable switching device, for example, thyristors, transistors (such as BJTs, MOSFETs, JEFTs, IGBTs, etc.), mechanical relays, etc.

Figure 3 shows a representation of an example control process performed by a power management module 110 (eg, each of the power management modules 1101, 1102, and 1103 depicted in Figure 2) in accordance with the first aspect of the present description. The power management modules 110 represented in Figure 2 can each independently perform the control process with respect to the one or more consumers for which they are responsible (for example, the power management module 1101 is responsible for controlling the power consumption of the tower control module 122, the power management module 1102 is responsible for controlling the power consumption of the yaw motor 124, other nacelle motors 126 and the nacelle control module 128, and the module power management module 1103 is responsible for controlling the power consumption of the hub control module 129).

At S310, the power management module 110 determines a voltage level of the power supply bus 180. This can be done in any suitable way, for example, by receiving a measurement from a separate entity such as a voltmeter, or by virtue of an electrical coupling between the power management module 110 and the power supply bus 180 using which the voltage level can be measured (not shown in Figure 2 for the sake of simplicity), etc.

At S320, power management module 110 determines whether primary power source 150 or backup power source 160 is providing power to power supply bus 180. As explained above, primary power source 150 provides power to the power supply bus at a first power supply voltage (eg, 560 V DC) and backup power source 160 provides power to the power supply bus at a second power supply voltage (eg, , 400V DC), which is less than the first power supply voltage. To make this determination, the power management module 110 may compare the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 with a first threshold voltage, which is set at any suitable level between the first power supply voltage and the second voltage. power supply (for example, the first threshold voltage can be 450 V DC). If the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is less than the first threshold voltage, it is determined that the backup power source 160 is providing power to the power supply bus 180, and the control process proceeds to S330. If the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is higher than the first threshold voltage, it is determined that the primary power source 150 is providing power to the power supply bus 180, and the control process proceeds to S340.

Each of the consumers 120 can be classified as either essential or non-essential. An essential consumer is one that is considered essential for the safe operation of the wind turbine 1 and should therefore be switched on even in periods without grid. A non-essential consumer is one that is considered non-essential for the safe operation of the wind turbine 1 during off-grid periods and can therefore be switched off or operated at a reduced level of power consumption during off-grid periods. Each power management module 110 is configured to know whether each consumer under its control is essential or non-essential, for example, using standard hardware configuration or software programming techniques during configuration of each power management module. 110.

In S330, the power management module 110 reduces the power consumption level of any non-essential consumer(s) under its control to a second power level by opening the controllable switch corresponding to the non-essential consumer(s). If the relevant controllable switch is already open (for example, because the power management module 110 would have opened it during a previous iteration of this control process) such that the consumer is already at the second power level (in this example , off), the power management module 110 will hold the controllable switch in its open position. For any essential consumer or consumers that are under the control of the power management module 110, the power management module 110 will maintain that consumer or consumers at a first power level (in this example, on) by keeping the corresponding controllable switch on. the closed position in order to maintain energy to that essential consumer or consumers. By way of non-limiting example, the tower control module 122 may be non-essential, so the power management module 1101 would control the first controllable switch 132 to an open state in order to reduce the power consumption of the first. converter 142 and tower control module 122 to the second power level (in this example, off). Yaw motor 124 and nacelle control module 128 may be essential consumers, so power management module 1102 will control second and fourth switches 134 and 138 to a closed state to keep power to those consumers in the first power level (in this example, on), while the other nacelle motors 126 may be non-essential, so the power management module 1103 will control the third controllable switch 136 to an open state, to reduce consumption power from the third converter 146 and other nacelle motors 126 to the second power level.

Whereas in the foregoing, and generally throughout this description, the "first power level" for a consumer is described as "on" or non-zero power consumption, and the "second power level" for a consumer is described as "off", or zero power consumption, it should be appreciated that this is merely an example of the first and second power levels and the present description is not limited solely to this example. In an alternative, both the first and second energy levels may be non-zero, with the second energy level being less than the first energy level. In particular, when the controllable switches are semiconductor switches, the power management modules 110 can control the consumers 120 between the first power level and the second power level by controlling the conduction level of the semiconductor switches in order to increase or decrease the current flow to the consumers 120 (and therefore increase or decrease their power consumption between non-zero levels of power consumption), based on the voltage level of the power supply bus 180. Alternatively, power management modules 110 can perform power management in any other way, for example by controlling the operation of consumers 120 to operate at the first power level (non-zero power consumption) or the second power level (zero power consumption, or non-zero power consumption that is less than the power consumption at the first power level), in which case or controllable switches can be optionally omitted.

In S340, the power management module increases the power consumption level of any non-essential consumer(s) under its control to the first power level by closing the controllable switch(es) corresponding to the non-essential consumer(s). If the relevant controllable switch(es) are already closed, the power management module 110 will hold the controllable switch in its closed position. For any essential consumer(s) that are under the control of the power management module 110, the power management module 110 will maintain that consumer(s) at the first power level by setting the corresponding controllable switch(es) to the closed position with the in order to maintain power to essential consumers.

Thus, it can be seen that S340 corresponds to periods fed by the grid (which are generally expected to be the normal condition for the wind turbine system 100) and the consumers 120 are controlled to operate in a normal way. S330 corresponds to periods without grid (which is generally expected to be an abnormal condition for the wind turbine system 100) and the power management modules 110 reduce the total power consumption of the wind turbine system by controlling the power consumption of consumers, thereby reducing the power consumption of the battery 162 and extending the amount of time that essential consumers can remain powered in periods without grid.

The control of the energy consumption level of the consumers is achieved in a distributed way through all parts of the wind turbine 1. In particular, each of the energy management modules 110 autonomously controls the energy consumption level of each of its one or more consumers based on the voltage level of the power supply bus 180. Consequently, when the power supply source changes, the power consumption level can be adjusted autonomously by the modules of power management as needed, without requiring a complex and expensive centralized power control and communications infrastructure (for example, an alternative arrangement may require the implementation of a centralized controller coupled to the controllers in each part of the wind turbine 1 via Ethernet cabling infrastructures, which would require swivel type couplings for Ethernet connections in nacelle 2 and hub e 5. This would be expensive and difficult to achieve). In this way, the power management control can be achieved more directly by implementing at least one autonomous power management module 110 in each part of the wind turbine 1 that has consumers to be controlled, those power management modules 110 operating on the basis to the voltage level of the power supply bus, which means that no additional changes would be needed in a standard wind turbine system.

After the completion of S330 or S340, the control process returns to S310, so that the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 can be continuously monitored and the power consumption of the consumers 120 controlled accordingly.

Figure 4 shows an example schematic diagram of a wind turbine system 400 according to a second aspect of the present disclosure. The 400 Wind Turbine System is the same as the 100 Wind Turbine System, except for the 460 Backup Power Supply and 470 Power Supply Controller. The 460 Backup Power Supply is very similar to the 460 Backup Power Supply. 160, but further comprises a converter 464 and a controllable switch 466. Converter 464 which may be of any suitable type, for example a DC-DC converter, is configured to provide power to power supply bus 180 to a third party. power supply voltage, which is less than the second power supply voltage provided by converter 164. By way of non-limiting example, the second power supply voltage provided by converter 164 may be 400 V DC and the third power supply voltage provided by converter 464 may be 350 V DC.

Power supply controller 470 is configured to not only control whether or not power is being provided to power supply bus 180 by backup power source 160 (as is the case of the power supply controller 170), but also to control, in the event backup power is to be used, which of the converters 164 or 464 provides the backup power to the power supply bus 180. The power supply controller Power supply 470 can be configured to perform this control based, at least in part, on the remaining power stored in battery 162 (eg, by monitoring power storage levels using any standard technique). In particular, if the energy storage level exceeds an energy storage threshold (such as 50% of full battery capacity), it can be assumed that the battery 162 has a good level of energy remaining. In this case, power supply controller 470 can close switch 166 and open switch 466 so that power is provided to power supply bus 180 by converter 164 at the second voltage level. If the energy storage level is less than the energy storage threshold, it can be assumed that the battery 162 has a low level of energy remaining. In this case, power supply controller 470 can open switch 166 and close switch 466 so that power is provided to power supply bus 180 by converter 464 at the third voltage level. It will be appreciated that in an alternative, the power supply controller 470 may set the power supply voltage provided by the backup power source 160 in any other suitable way, for example, by controlling the converters 164 and 464, or by adjusting the output level of a single converter within the backup power supply 160, etc. In a further alternative, backup power source 160 may autonomously control its output power supply voltage, based, for example, on the level of stored energy remaining in battery 162. In this second aspect of the description , the power management modules 110 are further refined to determine which of the first, second, or third power supply voltages the power supply bus is at and control the level of power consumption of the consumer(s) under its control, consequently. This will now be described in more detail with reference to Figure 5.

Figure 5 shows a representation of an example control process performed by each power management module 110 (eg, each of the power management modules 1101, 1102, and 1103 depicted in Figure 4) in accordance with the second aspect of the present description. The power management modules 110 may perform the control process with respect to each of the one or more consumers for which they are responsible.

At S510, the power management module 110 determines a voltage level of the power supply bus 180. This is the same as S310 described above with respect to Figure 3. This can be accomplished in any suitable way, for For example, by receiving a measurement from a separate entity such as a voltmeter, or by virtue of an electrical coupling between the power management module 110 and the power supply bus 180 using which the voltage level (not shown) can be measured. in Figure 4 for the sake of simplicity), etc.

In S520, the power management module 110 determines whether the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is at the first power supply voltage (i.e., provided by the primary power source 150), the second power supply voltage power supply (ie, provided by converter 164 of backup power source 160) or the third power supply voltage (ie, provided by converter 464 of backup power source 160). The power management module 110 can do this by comparing the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 with a first threshold voltage, which is set at any suitable level between the first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage. (as described above with respect to S310 of Figure 3), and comparing the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 with a second threshold voltage, which is set at any suitable level between the second power supply voltage power and the third power supply voltage. By way of non-limiting example, power supply voltages and threshold voltages may be as follows:

First power supply voltage = 560 V DC

First threshold voltage = 450 V DC

Second power supply voltage = 400 V DC

Second threshold voltage = 370 V DC

Third power supply voltage = 350 V DC

Figure 6 shows an example representation of the different power supply voltages and threshold voltages.

If the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is less than the second threshold voltage, it is determined that the backup power source 160 is providing power to the power supply bus 180 at the third power supply voltage and the control process goes to S530. If the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is greater than the second threshold voltage and less than the first threshold voltage, it is determined that the backup power source 160 is providing power to the power supply bus 180 in the second power supply voltage and the control process goes to S550. If the voltage level of the power supply bus power 180 is greater than the first threshold voltage, it is determined that the primary power source 150 is providing power to the power supply bus 180, and the control process proceeds to S540.

As explained above with respect to Figure 3, each of the consumers 120 can be classified as either essential or non-essential. However, as a further refinement, each of the non-essential consumers can be further classified as a low importance non-essential consumer or a high importance non-essential consumer. High-importance non-essential consumers are non-essential consumers that can be turned off or operate at a low level of power consumption during off-grid periods, but are preferably left on or operated at a normal level of power consumption, during both time as possible, for example, to simplify and speed up the process of returning to normal operation if utility power quickly returns. Therefore, they can be classified as "high importance" within the group of non-essential consumers. Non-essential low-importance consumers are consumers that can be switched off or operate at a low power consumption level during off-grid periods and are typically the least important consumers for safe off-grid operation. Therefore, they can be classified as “low importance” within the group of non-essential consumers and, consequently, switch off or control at low energy consumption levels, first in the case of a period without network. Each power management module 110 is configured to know whether each consumer under its control is essential, high non-essential, or low non-essential, for example, using standard hardware configuration or software programming techniques. software during the configuration of the power management modules 110.

In S530, where the backup power source 160 is providing power at the third power supply voltage (the lowest voltage), the power management module 110 reduces the level of power consumption of non-essential consumers of both low importance and high importance under your control to the second power level by opening the controllable switch corresponding to that non-essential consumer or consumers. If the relevant controllable switch(es) are already open (for example, because the power management module 110 had opened it during a previous iteration of this control process), the power management module 110 will hold the controllable switch in its position open. For any essential consumers that are under the control of the power management module 110, the power management module 110 will hold the corresponding controllable switch in the closed position in order to maintain those essential consumers at the first power level (in this example, on). Consequently, this part of the control process is very similar to S330 described above with reference to Figure 3.

In S540, where the primary power source 150 is providing power at the first power supply voltage (the highest voltage), the power management module 110 increases the power consumption level of non-essential consumers of both high importance and low importance under your control to the first power level by closing the controllable switch(es) corresponding to the non-essential consumer(s). If the relevant controllable switch is already closed, the power management module 110 will hold the controllable switch in its closed position. For any essential consumers that are under the control of the power management module 110, the power management module 110 will hold the corresponding controllable switch in the closed position in order to maintain the essential consumers at the first power level. Consequently, this part of the control process is very similar to S340 described above with reference to Figure 3.

In S550, where the backup power source 160 is providing power at the second power supply voltage (the mid-level voltage), the power management module 110 reduces the power consumption level of non-essential consumers of low importance under its control to the second energy level by opening the controllable switches corresponding to those non-essential consumers of low importance. If the relevant controllable switch(es) are already open (for example, because the power management module 110 had opened it during a previous iteration of this control process), the power management module 110 will hold the controllable switch in its position open. For any major non-essential consumer, or essential consumer, that is under the control of the power management module 110, the power management module 110 will close, or hold in the closed position, the corresponding controllable switch(es) to increase or keep those consumers in the first energy level.

Thus, it can be seen that when the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is less than the second threshold voltage, the power consumption level of the non-essential consumers of high importance is reduced. When it is greater than the second threshold voltage, the power consumption level of the non-essential consumers of high importance is increased. When the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is less than the first threshold voltage, the power consumption level of low-importance non-essential consumers is reduced. When it is greater than the second threshold voltage, the power consumption level of low-importance non-essential consumers is increased. Consequently, when the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is at its lowest level (i.e., the third power supply voltage), the power consumption level of the wind turbine system 400 can be minimized by reducing the energy consumption of all consumers other than essential consumers. When the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is at its highest level (ie, the first power supply voltage), the wind turbine system 400 operates normally with all consumers powered. When the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 is at its average level (ie, the second power supply voltage), the wind turbine system 400 can operate at a reduced level of power consumption, but not at its minimum level, with all consumers other than non-essential consumers of low importance being fed.

Accordingly, by inputting two different power supply voltage levels from the backup power source 160, more precise control of the power consumption of the wind turbine system 400 can be achieved. In particular, when the wind turbine system 400 initially switches On backup power, the battery 162 will likely charge just fine. In this case, it is useful to reduce the total power consumption, but a significant reduction in power consumption is not yet critical. Therefore, it is possible to turn off minor consumers (ie, non-essential consumers of low importance), but keep all other consumers on so that the wind turbine system 400 can operate as normally as possible. The longer a period without grid lasts, the lower the energy storage level of the battery 162 becomes. Ultimately, it may become critical to minimize energy consumption in order to preserve the operation of essential consumers as much as possible. . At this point, the backup power source 160 can be switched to provide power at the lowest voltage (the third voltage level), turning all but essential consumers off, in order to minimize consumption. of power from the 400 wind turbine system and maximize safe operation time during an extended period without grid.

Therefore, a more precise level of distributed control can be achieved, without requiring a dedicated central control system and infrastructure.

It will be appreciated that in the above example, three different levels of system power consumption are described, each corresponding to a different power supply voltage level. However, any number of different power supply voltage levels may be used in order to achieve an even finer level of decentralized power control.

Figure 7 shows an example schematic diagram of additional details of the power management module 110 of the present disclosure. In this example, power management module 110 controls an IGBT 710, which is a particular example of a controllable switch 132, 134, 136, 138, or 139. However, it will be appreciated that IGBT 710 may alternatively be any other type. suitable of controllable switch. Figure 7 includes a representation of a consumer 120, but does not include a representation of a converter for the sake of simplicity.

The power management module 110 can determine the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 by measuring the voltage at the Vbus terminal of the power management module 110. Based on the voltage level of the power supply bus 180, the power management module 110 can turn the IGBT 710 on or off as needed by controlling the gate voltage on the IGBT 710 in order to control the level of power consumption of the consumer 120, as described above.

In the particular implementation of the power management module 110 depicted in Figure 7, the power management module 110 is also configured to determine the voltage level at the input of consumer 120 by measuring the voltage at terminal V1 and to determine the current I1, at the input of consumer 120 using current transformer 720 (although it will be appreciated that the voltage and current at the input to consumer 120 may alternatively be determined in any other suitable way). The voltage and current determined at consumer input 120 may be used by power management module 110 to perform any one or more of the following operations:

a) Protection against current inrush to consumers. When IGBT 710 is being driven from an off state to an on state, current will begin to flow from power supply bus 180 to consumer 120. If consumer 120 has a capacitive load, current inrush can be significant and cause damage to the consumer 120. Therefore, the power management module 110 can monitor the current level I1 and adjust the conduction level of the IGBT 710 accordingly to limit the current I1 to acceptable levels, thereby providing protection against the inrush of current to the consumer 120.

b) Overload protection (for example, overcurrent or overvoltage protection). The power management module 110 can monitor the voltage V1 and the current I1 at the input of the consumer 120 and perform overload protection by monitoring the state of the IGBT 710. For example, if there is a voltage surge on the power supply bus 180, the voltage V1 and/or current I1 at the input of consumer 120 may begin to rise to dangerous levels, at which time the power management module 110 may turn off IGBT 120 in order to isolate consumer 120 from the bus. supply bus 180, thereby protecting the consumer 120. The threshold for which voltage and/or current levels are considered to be dangerous may change depending on which of the power sources 150 or 160 is providing power to the supply bus 180. For example, if the power management module 110 has determined (using the techniques described above) that the primary power source 150 is providing power to the power supply bus, power supply 180, a relatively high dangerous threshold of voltage or current can be set (for example, 100 A, etc.). If the power management module 110 has determined that the backup power source 160 is providing power to the power supply 180, a relatively low dangerous threshold voltage or current (eg, 30A, etc.) can be set. Consequently, more refined overload protection can be achieved by the power management modules 110 throughout the wind turbine system 100 and 400 in a non-centralized, distributed manner.

c) Load disconnection. When the power management module 110 is monitoring the power consumption level of two or more consumers 120 (for example, the power management module 1102 in Figures 2 and 4), the power management module 110 can monitor the combined power consumption of all those consumers 120 by monitoring the voltage V1 and current h at the input to each of those consumers 120. If the total power consumption is judged to be too high, the power management module 110 can perform load shedding by controlling the IGBTs 710 to turn off the consumers 120 according to a defined order of priority. When it is determined that power consumption has reached an acceptable level, the power management module 110 may then cease load shedding. This load shedding technique can be used as a more sophisticated power management technique than the more direct essential/non-essential consumer technique described above. For example, when power management module 110 determines that backup power source 160 is providing power to power supply bus 180, then it may use a lower threshold for what constitutes an acceptable level of power consumption in all consumers 120 under its control. You can then turn off the consumers according to a defined order of priority until the total level of energy consumption falls below the threshold level. In this way, it is possible that some non-essential consumers can be kept on (where they could otherwise be turned off according to the process described above), while still achieving an acceptable reduction in the power consumption of the wind turbine system 100 or 400.

Optionally, when the power management module 110 is monitoring the power consumption level of two or more consumers 120, it can be further configured to time stagger the reconnection of consumers 120 to the power supply bus 180. For example , if a power management module 110 is monitoring the power consumption level of two or more non-essential consumers and has previously switched off those consumers 120, if the power management module 110 later detects that the primary power source 150 has resumed supplying power to the power supply bus 180, instead of reconnecting all consumers 120 at once, it can reconnect them in a staggered manner. This can help provide overload protection, since reconnecting multiple consumers 120 at the same time can cause a transient change in voltage/current on the power supply bus 180, which in turn can result in a situation of dangerous overload (i.e., overvoltage/overcurrent) for any of the consumers 120 coupled to the power supply bus 180. By staggering each reconnection in time, changes in the level of power drawn from the power supply bus 180 can be more gradual, thereby protecting consumers 120 from overload conditions.

Although the invention has been described above with reference to one or more preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that various changes or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

For example, while in the above description power supply bus 180 is generally referred to as carrying DC power, in an alternative it may carry AC power. Furthermore, at least some of the converters 154, 164, 464, 142, 144, 146, 148, and 149 may not be necessary, depending on the requirements of the consumers 120 and the nature of the power sources and the power supply bus. energy 180.

While in the above description the power management modules 110 control the level of power consumption of one or more consumers 120 between a first power level and a second power level, the power management modules 110 can alternatively control the power consumption between more than two different levels, particularly when more than two power supply voltages are available.

While Figures 2 and 4 both show a single power management module 110 in each part of the wind turbine (for example, tower 2, nacelle 3 and hub 5), in at least one part of the wind turbine there may be two or plus power management modules 110, each controlling the power consumption level of one or more different consumers 120. Furthermore, at least one part of the wind turbine may not have any power management module 110 at all, for example if all the consumers 120 in that part are essential consumers.

In the above description, power management modules 110 generally monitor the power consumption level of consumers by comparing the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 against one or more threshold voltages. However, the control of the power consumption level can be performed based on the voltage level of the power supply bus 180 in any other suitable way, for example, the power consumption of at least some consumers can be proportionally adjusted with the voltage level of the power supply bus 180.

As part of the optional functionalities of the power management module 110 described above with reference to Figure 7, it is explained that both the voltage and the current input to the consumer 120 are measured. However, in an alternative, the management module Power source 110 can determine the voltage and/or current input to consumer 120 and perform at least some of the described optional functionality based on those measurements.

Although the power management module 110 is shown in Figures 2, 4 and 7 as a single unit, it will be appreciated that each power management module 110 may comprise two or more different elements/parts/units that interconnect and configure to perform the functionality described above. Furthermore, each power management module 110 may comprise a processor and memory so that the process is capable of executing computing tasks based on instructions stored in memory. The memory may be any suitable computer-readable medium, for example, a non-transient computer-readable medium, such as read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROM, DVD, Blue-ray, magnetic tape, drives. hard drives, solid-state drives, and optical drives. Alternatively, the functionality of the power management module 110 may be implemented by hardware (eg, using hardwired or configurable logic) or a combination of software and hardware.

Claims (15)

1. An energy management module (110) for a wind turbine system comprising one or more consumers (120), which are devices, components or systems within the wind turbine system that consume electrical energy, the energy management module that is configured to: determining a voltage level of a power supply bus (180) of the wind turbine system; and controlling a power consumption level of one or more consumers coupled to the power supply bus based, at least in part, on the determined voltage level of the power supply bus, wherein by determining the voltage level on the power supply bus, the power management module can determine whether a primary (150) or backup (160) power supply is providing power to the power supply bus, and whether When the backup power supply is detected to be providing power, the power management module is configured to reduce power consumption by any non-essential consumers under its control and maintain power for essential consumers. The power management module of claim 1, wherein: The control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers is based, at least in part, on a comparison of the power supply bus voltage level against a first threshold voltage. The power management module of claim 2, wherein at least one of the one or more consumers is a non-essential consumer, and wherein, if the voltage level of the power supply bus is higher than the first threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer at a first power level; Y if the power supply bus voltage level is less than the first threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer to a second power level, and where the first energy level is greater than the second energy level. The power management module of claim 2, wherein: the control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers is further based, at least in part, on a comparison of the power supply bus voltage level against a second threshold voltage, and wherein the first threshold voltage is greater than the second threshold voltage. The power management module of claim 4, further configured to control the power consumption level of the one or more consumers between a first power level and a second power level, wherein the first energy level is greater than the second energy level. The power management module of claim 5, wherein at least one of the one or more consumers is a non-essential consumer of low importance, and wherein, if the voltage level of the power supply bus (180) is less than the first threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the power consumption level of the low-importance non-essential consumer to the second power level , and where if the voltage level of the power supply bus (180) is greater than the second threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the power consumption level of the low-importance non-essential consumer to the first power level . The power management module of claim 5 or claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more consumers is a high-importance non-essential consumer, and wherein, if the voltage level of the power supply bus (180) is less than the second threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the power consumption level of the non-essential consumer of high importance to the second power level , and where if the voltage level of the power supply bus (180) is greater than the second threshold voltage, the power management module is configured to control the level of power consumption of the non-essential consumer of high importance to the first power level . The power management module of any preceding claim, wherein the one or more consumers are coupled to the power supply bus (180) by one or more respective controllable switches (132, 134, 136, 138, 139), and wherein the power management module is configured to control the one or more controllable switches to control the power consumption level of the one or more consumers. The power management module of claim 8, further configured to: determining a voltage level and/or a current at an input of each of the one or more consumers; wherein the control of the power consumption level of the one or more consumers is further based, at least in part, on the level of voltage and/or current determined at the input of each of the one or more consumers. The power management module of claim 9, wherein each of the one or more controllable switches comprises a transistor (710), and wherein the power management module is further configured to: when controlling a transistor (710) to couple a consumer to the power supply bus (180), controlling a conduction level of the transistor based on a determined voltage and/or current level at the input of the consumer to protect against inrush current to the consumer. The power management module of any of claims 8 to 10, further configured for: when controlling the switches (132, 134, 136, 138, 139) of a plurality of consumers to couple the plurality of consumers to the bus power supply, time stagger the coupling of at least some of the consumers to provide overload protection for the power supply bus. 12. A wind turbine system comprising: a power supply bus (180); one or more consumers (120) coupled to the power supply bus; the power management module (110) of any preceding claim for controlling a power consumption level of at least one of the one or more consumers; a primary power source (150) coupled to the power supply bus to provide a first power supply voltage; Y a backup power source (160) coupled to the power supply bus to provide a second power supply voltage in the event of a failure in the primary power source, wherein the first power supply voltage is greater than the second power supply voltage. The wind turbine system of claim 12, wherein the backup power source (160) is further configured to provide either the second power supply voltage or a third power supply voltage to the power supply bus. power, wherein the second power supply voltage is greater than the third power supply voltage. The wind turbine system of claim 13, wherein the backup power source (160) comprises a battery (162) and wherein the wind turbine system is further configured to control the backup power source to provide either either the second power supply voltage or the third power supply voltage to the power supply bus based, at least in part, on the remaining power stored in the battery. 15. A method for controlling a level of energy consumption of one or more consumers (120) which are devices, components or systems within the wind turbine system that consume electrical energy, in a wind turbine system, the method comprising: determining a voltage level of a power supply bus (180) of the wind turbine system; and controlling a power consumption level of the one or more consumers (120) coupled to the power supply bus based, at least in part, on the determined voltage level of the power supply bus, wherein determining the voltage level on the power supply bus, a determination is made whether a primary (150) or backup (160) power supply is providing power to the power supply bus, and whether the backup power supply is detected to be By providing power, the power consumption of non-essential consumers is reduced and power is maintained for essential consumers.